The colours of the Mexican beaches can only be seen in advertising brochures. Here the ocean is azure, the sky perfectly blue and the sand as soft as down. Mexico is a paradise not only for those beachgoers who like to lie in the sun for hours. If you go to Yucatán, you can visit the ruins of ancient Mayan cities: Chichén Itzá and Uxmal and the bustling city of Mérida.

Perhaps the most famous resort in Mexico is Cancun. It is the perfect place for young gringos who are looking for excitement. The 20-kilometre coastline of Cancún is overgrown with luxurious, multi-storey (rather ugly) hotels. Loners and romantics will not like it here, but those who appreciate luxury, comfort and fun will be in their element. "Cancún" in the Mayan language means "a bowl full of gold".

And indeed! - If you're going to spend your money somewhere, it's best here! A rich offer of Mexican dishes, water sports, coral reefs and sun-bathed clean (although crowded) beaches attract tourists like a magnet. After sunset the crowds move to the hotel discos, where they dance salsa and sip tequila until the morning.

The surroundings of Tulum
A must-see in Mexico, just like the archaeological site growing right on the beach. The town itself is sleepy and quiet. There are a dozen or so guesthouses in the centre, numerous tiny hotels are scattered along the coast or hidden in wonderful, lost lagoons. Most of them can only be reached by car or taxi (very cheap - about 4-5 PLN per course). There are bars on the beaches, and it is also worth renting a hammock for the night. In this case you should remember about the mosquito net, because the proximity of tropical forests means night visits of all sorts of insects.

The sleepy, paradisiacal Tulum attracts a mass of globetrotters and losers. On the beaches it is not surprising to see lazy Rastafarians with a blissful smile on their lips. Cannabis and hashish traders have sensed the business. Let us not be fooled. Possession of drugs is severely punished in Mexico. And a blissful smile in Tulum...

This is not difficult to achieve without drugs. The midges are a nuisance in the summer afternoons, and the humidity is high all year round. For a romantic night on a Caribbean beach, however, these inconveniences are worth putting up with.

Acapulco
Famous for its hit song, Acapulco was once the centre of the galleon trade. Silver worth 200 million pesos was exported from the port in exchange for Chinese porcelain, silk and ivory. Although Hurricane "Paulina" flooded the town with a wave of mud in 1997, miraculously the seaside hotels and promenade survived.

Renovated Acapulco offers a wealth of excitement, from glass-bottom boat trips to Capilla Island, where you can view underwater life, to renting speedboats, sailboats, jet skis and canoes. Visitors to the resort should not miss the spectacular water jumps either. In La Quebrada, at night and at one o'clock in the afternoon, amateurs of thrills meet and throw themselves from a 40-metre cliff into the water. The channel is narrow and it is very easy to have an accident there. But there is no shortage of volunteers...

Costa Esmeralda
An alternative for tourists who like to combine lazing on the beach with sightseeing. Although the beaches stretching between Nautla and Tecolutla do not offer many attractions, you can find pleasant places and small hotels near the sea.

The advantage of these quiet beaches is the proximity of the ruins of El Tajín, the former centre of the pre-Totonian civilisation, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ruins hidden in the tropical forest are impressive, as is the stone juego de pelota - a pitch for a ritual ball game. The losing team was sacrificed to the gods.

Vallarta
Famous for the "Predator" (the film with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the house where Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor lived in the 1960s. The beaches here are quite crowded in high season, but if you venture a little further out of town, it's much looser.